"I threw my water bottle away in the finish area": Victor Campenaerts accepts a careless yellow card

Victor Campenaerts has been added to UCI's naughty list on Sunday's stage of Paris-Nice. The opening day of the "Race to the Sun" led to a bunch sprint where Visma | Lease a Bike opted to not get overly involved besides Axel Zingle who crossed the line 9th on his own. But Campenaerts was still awarded a yellow card alongside a small fine for the sprint finish? How so?

The 34-year-old explained to Sporza afterwards what was his misconduct: "I threw my water bottle away in the finish area, but the rule is that you're not allowed to throw it away on a flat surface. Although I think a lot of people were happy to see a water bottle there. The rules have been adjusted. Now you can throw away your water bottle when it's uphill and there's an audience."

Campenaerts accepts the decision and realizes he needs to be vigilant. "It was an oversight on my part, something to consider."

For now, there's no major punishment awaiting Campenaerts, however he needs to stay cautious in the remainder of the French race: "I was penalized with a yellow card, and a second yellow card in the same stage race is disqualification. We have to follow the rules. It's my fault that I didn't do that optimally."

But the threat of disqualification should not be an immediate problem for Campenaerts in tomorrow's team time trial - a key race for the general classification of the 2026 Paris-Nice where his teammate Jonas Vingegaard aims for an overall victory. In addition, the 23.5-kilometer team race will be an important test with view to this year's Tour de France where a similar event awaits the riders.

"That means there's a bit more attention to it. We have a number of riders here who are riding the Tour, so it's very good training. Tomorrow we'll do everything we can to win the team time trial," the Visma captain concludes.